UB lands its first Banting Fellowship recipient

Hailey Banack, a postdoctoral researcher in UB's School of Public Health and Health Professions, has received a Banting Fellowship, Canada's most prestigious award for postdocs.

“This is an amazing opportunity for me as a young researcher.”

Hailey Banack, postdoctoral researcher, School of Public Health and Health Professions

University at Buffalo

BUFFALO, N.Y. – A postdoctoral researcher in the
University at Buffalo’s School of Public Health and Health
Professions has been awarded a Banting Fellowship, Canada’s
most prestigious award for postdoctoral researchers.

The government of Canada awards 70 Banting Fellowships annually
and each is worth $70,000 per year over two years.

This is the first time a UB postdoc has received the Banting
Fellowship. Hailey Banack is working under the direction of Jean
Wactawski-Wende, SUNY Distinguished Professor, dean of UB’s
School of Public Health and Health Professions, and professor of
epidemiology and environmental health.

Banack’s research interest in healthy aging and
women’s health led her to UB, which serves as the Northeast
Regional Center for the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI), a
prospective national study focused on strategies for preventing
heart disease, cancer and osteoporotic fractures in postmenopausal
women in the U.S.

“The WHI is a very well-known epidemiologic study. It was
a great fit to come here and work with Dr. Wactawski-Wende because
she is a recognized expert in women’s health and body
composition,” says Banack. “This is an amazing
opportunity for me as a young researcher.”

Postmenopausal women are a uniquely high-risk group and research
is needed to improve researchers’ limited knowledge of the
effects of obesity and hormone therapy on cardiovascular disease
and mortality in older women, Banack says.

“We don’t fully understand how obesity affects women
in these older age groups. It’s a topic that needs
investigation based on the changing demographics of the U.S. and
the fact that women are living longer,” she said.

The majority of Banack’s research is focused on
understanding the relationships between obesity, chronic disease,
and mortality in older women and using novel methodologies to
address complex statistical issues in aging research.

For her current research project, Banack is using data from over
160,000 postmenopausal women who participated in the Women’s
Health Initiative. She will first explore how body weight and body
composition change over time in postmenopausal women and how these
changes affect risk factors for heart disease, such as high blood
pressure and cholesterol.

Next, she’ll use advanced statistical methods and bias
analysis techniques to investigate the effect of body weight
changes on mortality. She will also examine whether hormone therapy
and obesity interact to increase the risk of cardiovascular disease
in post-menopausal women.

“The results of this research have great public health
significance,” Banack says. “Understanding the effect
of obesity in postmenopausal women could help inform treatment
guidelines and enable clinician-scientists to develop intervention
programs specifically targeting postmenopausal women. These results
will directly contribute to our understanding of healthy aging in
postmenopausal women.”

Banack was born and raised in Toronto. She completed concurrent
bachelor of physical education and bachelor of science degrees at
Queen’s University and then a master’s degree in
kinesiology at McGill University. She received her PhD in
epidemiology from McGill University in 2016.

Banack was awarded both the Governor General’s Gold Medal,
for the most outstanding McGill graduate receiving a doctoral
degree in 2015-16 in any discipline, and the Gordon A. Maclachlan
Prize for the top graduating doctoral student in health
sciences.

Banack is actively involved in the peer-review process for a
number of prominent epidemiology and medical journals.